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Emmeline
has grown up with a gift. Since the time she was a baby she has been
able to control shadows. And her only friend and companion is her own
shadow, Dar.

Disaster strikes when a noble family visits their
home and offers to take Emmeline away and cure her of magic. Desperate
not to lose her shadows, she turns to Dar who proposes a deal: Dar will
change the noble’s mind, if Emmeline will help her become flesh as she
once was. Emmeline agrees but the next morning the man in charge is in a
coma and all that the witness saw was a long shadow with no one nearby
to cast it. Scared to face punishment, Emmeline and Dar run away.

With
the noble’s guards on her trail, Emmeline’s only hope of clearing her
name is to escape capture and perform the ritual that will set Dar free.
But Emmeline’s not sure she can trust Dar anymore, and it’s hard to
keep secrets from someone who can never leave your side.

If you do not know, I am a teacher. That's how I started blogging many years ago, and also why I sometimes have lulls. Teachers stay busy! I am always scouting out new reading material for my students and ways to grow as an educator. Every few years, ILA (formerly IRA) comes within driving distance. Recently, the conference has switched to a summer schedule. That makes things great for me, but not so great when it also runs up against San Diego Comic Con. (I mean seriously, who books a literacy conference back to back to a HUGE event like that?)

This year we planned a mini vacation near the event so I could hop over to a few sessions during the weekend. Unfortunately, most of what I attended didn't teach me anything new professionally, but I did discover some AMAZING new books coming our way!

I also learned that graphic novels are the publishing world's new craze. Look for many more to be popping up over the next year as one representative said, "we're finally ca…

Book two of the dazzling Winner's Trilogy is a fight to the death as Kestrel risks betrayal of country for love.

The
engagement of Lady Kestrel to Valoria’s crown prince means one
celebration after another. But to Kestrel it means living in a cage of
her own making. As the wedding approaches, she aches to tell Arin the
truth about her engagement... if she could only trust him. Yet can she
even trust herself? For—unknown to Arin—Kestrel is becoming a skilled
practitioner of deceit: an anonymous spy passing information to Herran,
and close to uncovering a shocking secret.

As Arin enlists
dangerous allies in the struggle to keep his country’s freedom, he can’t
fight the suspicion that Kestrel knows more than she shows. In the end,
it might not be a dagger in the dark that cuts him open, but the truth.
And when that happens, Kestrel and Arin learn just how much their
crimes will cost them.

What is this woman doing to me? I loved The Winner's Curse and didn't know if …

As
a general’s daughter in a vast empire that revels in war and enslaves
those it conquers, seventeen-year-old Kestrel has two choices: she can
join the military or get married. But Kestrel has other intentions.

One
day, she is startled to find a kindred spirit in a young slave up for
auction. Arin’s eyes seem to defy everything and everyone. Following her
instinct, Kestrel buys him—with unexpected consequences. It’s not long
before she has to hide her growing love for Arin.

But he, too,
has a secret, and Kestrel quickly learns that the price she paid for a
fellow human is much higher than she ever could have imagined.

Set in a richly imagined new world, The Winner’s Curse
by Marie Rutkoski is a story of deadly games where everything is at
stake, and the gamble is whether you will keep your head or lose your
heart.

I have checked out this book at least twice from the library over the last year and returned it unread. …

No one expects a
princess to be brutal. And Lada Dragwlya likes it that way. Ever since
she and her gentle younger brother, Radu, were wrenched from their
homeland of Wallachia and abandoned by their father to be raised in the
Ottoman courts, Lada has known that being ruthless is the key to
survival. She and Radu are doomed to act as pawns in a vicious game, an
unseen sword hovering over their every move. For the lineage that makes
them special also makes them targets.

Lada despises the Ottomans
and bides her time, planning her vengeance for the day when she can
return to Wallachia and claim her birthright. Radu longs only for a
place where he feels safe. And when they meet Mehmed, the defiant and
lonely son of the sultan, Radu feels that he’s made a true friend—and
Lada wonders if she’s finally found someone worthy of her passion.

But
Mehmed is heir to the very empire that Lada has sworn to fight
against—and that Radu now considers home. Together, Lada, Radu, and
Mehmed …

The beast raged; it punctured the air with its spite. But the girl was fiercer.

Tea
is different from the other witches in her family. Her gift for
necromancy makes her a bone witch, who are feared and ostracized in the
kingdom. For theirs is a powerful, elemental magic that can reach beyond
the boundaries of the living—and of the human.

Great power comes
at a price, forcing Tea to leave her homeland to train under the
guidance of an older, wiser bone witch. There, Tea puts all of her
energy into becoming an asha, learning to control her elemental magic
and those beasts who will submit by no other force. And Tea must be
strong—stronger than she even believes possible. Because war is brewing
in the eight kingdoms, war that will threaten the sovereignty of her
homeland…and threaten the very survival of those she loves.

Let's take a minute to discuss the beauty of this cover. The deep purple with the gold swirls... that skull that just floats. Tiny Tea sitting on top of the …

Twelve-year-old Nell
Perkins knows there is magic at work that she can’t yet understand. Her
mother has been taken by witches and turned into a bird. Nell must
journey to get her mother back, even if it takes her deep into the
Wicked Places — the frightening realm where Nightmares resides. There
she must break the spell and stop the witches from turning our world
into a living nightmare.

I must admit that the cover of this book is what caught my attention on Netgalley. Look at how the different elements blend together, creating this sense of some sort of eerie fog hovering off in the distance. I love how the different dream elements are creeping in from the edges as the three children stand in the middle waiting for a confrontation. And don't miss the ominous, looming purple cloud. It really does a great job of setting the tone for the story that readers will encounter.

Unfortunately, I read this book months ago and got so busy that I did not get a chance to write a review …